SUSAN PERREN

Saturday, February 24, 2001

Enough, by Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch, illustrated by Michael Martchenko, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 32 pages ages 5 to 9
Michael Martchenko's illustrations play nicely into this picture book set in a village in Ukraine as the Soviets come into power. Even in the best of times, Marusia and her father eke a meagre living from their farm, but with the "Dictator" in power, their farm and their grain are expropriated. Plucky Marusia takes matters into her own hands and, helped by a stork, flies across the sea to a verdant land, gathering enough grain to feed the village. That grain is also expropriated, leaving Marusia no choice but to devise a wickedly simple ruse to foil the oppressor.
Men of Stone, by Gail Friesen, Kids Can, 216 pages ages 11 to 15
Ben's dad died when Ben was 5. He's now 15, the only male in a house full of women. He lives in a too-small house with a too-busy mother and three older sisters. When Ben's Mom tells her brood that their great-aunt Frieda, their father's aunt, is coming to stay, their response, for once unified, is: "Why?" The purpose of great-aunt Frieda's visit is revealed slowly and with considerable subtlety by Friesen. When she leaves, Ben knows more about Aunt Frieda, his father and, most important, himself.
The Technology Book for Girls and Other Advanced Beings, by Trudee Romanek, illustrated by Pat Cupples, Kids Can Press, 56 pages ages 8 to 12
Following on the heels of The Math Book for Girls and Other Beings Who Count and The Science Book for Girls and Other Intelligent Beings, The Technology Book begins by explaining the difference between technology (using, for instance, a magnet to remove paper clips from a bucket of sand) and advanced technology, which generally means complex tools and machines like lasers, fibre optics and satellites. A number of modern marvels are introduced, explained and illustrated in a manner guaranteed to make technology something girls would want to know about.

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